Obesity, metabolic dysfunction, and risk of kidney stone disease: a national cross-sectional study

This study aimed to investigate the association between different metabolic syndrome-body mass index (MetS-BMI) phenotypes and the risk of kidney stones.

Participants aged 20-80 years from six consecutive cycles of the NHANES 2007-2018 were included in this study. According to their MetS status and BMI, the included participants were allocated into six mutually exclusive groups: metabolically healthy normal weight (MHN)/overweight (MHOW)/obesity (MHO) and metabolically unhealthy normal weight (MUN)/overweight (MUOW)/obesity (MUO). To explore the association between MetS-BMI phenotypes and the risk of kidney stones, binary logistic regression was used to determine the odds ratios (ORs).

A total of 13,589 participants were included. It was revealed that all the phenotypes with obesity displayed higher risks of kidney stones (OR = 1.38, p < 0.01 for MHO & OR = 1.80, p < 0.001 for MUO, in the fully adjusted model). The risk increased significantly when metabolic dysfunction coexisted with overweight and obesity (OR = 1.39, p < 0.05 for MUOW & OR = 1.80, p < 0.001 for MUO, in the fully adjusted model). Of note, the ORs for the MUO and MUOW groups were higher than those for the MHO and MHOW groups, respectively.

Obesity and unhealthy metabolic status can jointly increase the risk of kidney stones. Assessing the metabolic status of all individuals may be beneficial for preventing kidney stones.